


joys give rise to moons

by magisterequitum



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: F/M, Gen, Male-Female Friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-25
Updated: 2016-12-25
Packaged: 2018-09-08 00:08:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,386
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8821777
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/magisterequitum/pseuds/magisterequitum
Summary: "Do you think you could help me fix my circlet? If you had time?" Keyleth points up at the side where half is burned and damaged from their time in the Fire Plane. Percy's face contorts in thought, the look where he purses his mouth and is more the inventor he is than the sometimes stuck up noble. "I don't see why not. Let's try." Set between episodes 77 and 78.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [samyazaz](https://archiveofourown.org/users/samyazaz/gifts).



> Happiest of Yuletide! I had such a hard time pinning down what I wanted to write because your prompts were so amazing. I had at one time five different ideas. But in the past five or so episodes, I've really been struck with wanting a scene between them and their friendship and wanted to write you something honoring that request. I hope this does your great ideas justice. I had a lot of fun writing them. 
> 
> Happy Holidays!

The conversation dies out after they all agree that Gilmore will be the one to join them in the fight in Emon. There is not much else to say, and Keyleth feels drained. She has not always been the best in Vox Machina at reading others, but she can see the visible relief in Allura's face. Keyleth had meant to reassure Allura that she was no coward by not wanting to go to Emon and Thordak directly. She hopes she did some good even if she had stumbled over her words. 

Now, she glances around the rest of the room with the ziggurat and her family and the rest of the council leadership of Whitestone. Without the attention of everyone, the fatigue from their surprise fight at Fort Daxio rushes in. Her spine relaxes and her shoulders droop a bit. 

A hand cups her elbow, and she turns to see Vax there. Silent and tired too with a streak of ash and dirt across his forehead. The braids in his hair are coming undone. Maybe later they will have time for her to comb through the tangles and he can do the same for her ruined hair. 

"Kiki," he says quietly, "Are you alright?" 

"Yes," she answers immediately and finds that she is. She's tired and sore, but she's okay. She's gotten a bit better at this speech making thing. "Are you?" Her eyes trace his figure, trying to see if there's any visible wounds she can heal under his armor or cloak. 

He waves her concern away with a crooked smile. "Yeah, yeah. I'm fine." He squeezes her elbow and steps closer till his nose brushes against hers. "That was a good speech."

Keyleth feels her face heat up at his praise. She flushes and her next statement is a bit giddy even surrounded by this room of death. "You think? I tried so hard."

"You did good, Kiki." He looks at her with such a fondness and _belief_ in his gaze she no longer feels afraid or tired. "Do you need me now? If I go talk to Gilmore?" 

She sees from the corner of her eye Percy finish talking to his sister and thinks that should be her next move. Smiling down at Vax, she shakes her head. "No. You should go tell him. Ask him if he'll fight with us." 

He squeezes her elbow again and kisses her quickly, just a bare brush of his mouth against hers. "Of course. I'll see you later." 

He's gone, blended into the shadows of the room before she can say yes. He'll sneak into her room later she's certain. 

Keyleth turns away, looking to find Percy moving towards the exit of this room. She can feel the green-gold gaze of Raishan on her back. A wash of anger rises in her and her hand tightens around her vestige. Grog's words echo in her mind, Percy's that this is his home, that her family would be hurt if she acted now. She pushes the rage back down. Her justice will come. For now, she leaves it be. 

"Percy," she calls out after his tattered coat back. He'll need to mend it again soon. Maybe Vex will do it, she thinks slyly, and oh she wants to ask him about that too. 

He stops and waits till she bumps into his side, letting her lean her weight against him. He is of very nearly the same height as she, only a few inches taller. She's always liked that fact. "Keyleth," he says, a smile making him younger looking for a moment. 

It is so good to see her best friend smiling again. It hits her then that it has been too long since they talked, since they walked together, since they did anything just the two of them. They have been busy of course, but her heart is so full of love for him since his death and resurrection. If he never left her sight again it would be too soon. A childish thought since they are about to go to war against an ancient dragon, but she wishes it for all of her family. 

"Keyleth," Percy repeats her name, a frown between his brows and concern in the lines around his mouth. 

She blinks, realizing she'd slipped too far into her own thoughts and now they're standing in the carved out halls below Whitestone proper. "Percy, are you going to your workshop?" 

"I was going to spend some time there. I need to fix Bad News."

"Do you think you could help me fix my circlet? If you had time?" She points up at the side where half is burned and damaged from their time in the Fire Plane. 

Percy's face contorts in thought, the look where he purses his mouth and is more the inventor he is than the sometimes stuck up noble. "I don't see why not. Let's try." 

He takes her arm in his, and it is like the times where they used to walk arm in arm in the city streets. Back when they lived in Greyskull Keep, back before dragons, back before they might die tomorrow. She can have this at least. He leads them on down the stone stairs. 

His workshop here in Whitestone is different from his old one. The space is larger here. However, it lacks the coziness and personality that the one in their Keep had. There he had tools strewn about, burnt marks on the tables, the very air in the room had always smelled of metals and sweat. Maybe this workshop one day can be like that. 

Percy goes around to one side of his work bench and gestures for her circlet as she stops opposite of him. 

She sits, making sure that Vax's cloak he had given to her does not catch on the wood. She wouldn't want to harm it. 

"Are you sure you want me to tinker with it?" he asks as she raises her arms to take it off. 

Keyleth has to unsnarl part of where her burnt, lopped off hair has tangled around it. She'll have to look later at how much she'll need to cut to fix her hair. "Why not?" 

He takes it, holding it in his hands for a moment. Then, he sets it down carefully, removes his gloves, and then picks it up again, looking at her. "I know it is very special to you. I wouldn't want to damage it further." 

"Percy," she says, her tone astonished and disbelieving. Her circlet is very dear to her. Its importance is great. She's touched he knows this, but, "You are so talented and smart. You make," she pauses because she's never really actually sure what it is Percy makes even when she's assisting him. " _things_. Great things! You couldn't possibly hurt it." 

He gives her a droll look behind his glasses even as his cheeks turn pink. "I fuck things up spectacularly all the time in here." 

She waves a hand in the air. "I trust you."

The corners of his mouth twitch in a small smile as he turns away to examine her circlet. His thumb runs around the wire, tugging at the charred antler she'll need to replace. "I could find you a new one, I'm sure." 

"Hmmm," she hums, uncertain what he means and then says, "Oh, an antler? How?"

"We hunt them here. It used to be a weekly event with my family." 

Percy does not talk often of his family so Keyleth treasures the moments he does. She imagines a younger Percy with a smaller blue coat and brown hair, sat on a horse and surrounded by the rest of the de Rolo family. Hunting for sport gives her pause but perhaps at a different time. 

"I am sure there is a pair in the castle somewhere left over." 

She nods. "Alright." 

Silence fills the space between them on the work bench as he turns her circlet over and over, this way and that, and the emptiness makes her fidget. Biting her lip, she leans forward and whispers, "So Vex told me something." 

The pink flush he had blooms to a bright red and one half of her circlet slips to the table from his left hand. He clears his throat, voice caught, "Did she." 

It is not a question but she does not stop. There is no reason for her to whisper when they are alone in here. Still though she's giddy and excited, a grin taking over her face. "She said you two kissed." 

Percy nearly chokes and lifts her circlet into the air between them. "Will I hurt the magic in it?" 

Keyleth hums, noting his want to change the subject. "I don't think so. Magical items don't work that way. Mine is attuned more to nature anyway." 

He nods and picks up one of his tool, a two handled piece with a thin nose end. His next words have an air of sarcasm to them. "Alright. You know more than I do on that."

Her head feels so very odd without the familiar circlet on. She's grown used to the heavy weight of the antlers, adding to the responsibilities of her journey. Fidgeting at his tone, she brushes her hair behind her ears. "You know, Percy, I noticed you haven't worn Cabal's Ruin yet."

Percy keeps his head bent down, cutting away at the ruined piece of metal. "I have not." 

"Don't you think you should? It would keep you safer. And we are about to fight _the_ dragon. And whatever else is in Emon." 

He pauses entirely, hands going very still as he looks down at the swirled wood of his work bench. No doubt the wood comes from the forest outside of Whitestone. "I," he starts to say after a long break. "I don't-"

Keyleth wonders if Percy has talked to anyone since his resurrection. Maybe Cassandra, but they hadn't stayed in Whitestone very long. Probably Vex. She feels a stab of guilt that she's not sought him out sooner. But seeing him fall, spending the night beside her dead best friend, carrying his body back to Whitestone, and praying that her aide had been enough to save him from seeing Orthax eating at his soul. That has sat so hard in her and selfishly she has thrown herself into fighting the Conclave to avoid. 

Percy has never really trusted magic. He doesn't understand the things that Keyleth can do, or Scanlan, or like how Tiberius had before. He creates with his hands, he'd once told her, not from air like her. 

"You know," Keyleth says when he remains silent and his hands are clenched so tight his knuckles have gone white. "It was very hard watching you fall."

"Keyleth." Her name is a sharp exhale, but she continues on. 

"And we killed that bitch and brought you back here, but you know, Percy, it was magic that brought you back. Pike and all of us, but Pike and her spell." She reaches over and covers his left hand with her right. "You're not afraid of me are you? My spells are magic. You asked me once if I was afraid of you, but I never am. Afraid _for_ you. But not of you." 

He finally looks up at her, his hand tensing and relaxing under hers. His blue eyes are very bright behind his glasses. His mouth twists and he laughs softly. "I am only ever amazed by what you can do, Keyleth. I'd be more afraid if you weren't my friend."

She smiles, glad that he is back here with her and no longer lost in his thoughts. "I'd be very lost without you as my friend. I'm very glad I have you."

"I am too." 

Keyleth releases his hand and sits back. "You should wear it. You died for it. I don't want to lose you again. And if you want I could help you with it." She thinks on that and then furrows her brow. "Well, maybe Scanlan more. He's better at that." 

"You're good at plenty of things, Keyleth," Percy says, reading her deprecation.

She beams. She is so happy she asked to come with him here. She's missed sitting with him here. 

Percy twists her circlet in the low light. "I think I can bend it back in place with some new metal. It might not look perfect. With more time I could make it nicer, blend more in with the old part." 

He sounds annoyed at himself which is funny to her. If Percy had his way he would make her a whole brand new one, more elaborate than she has. This circlet has meaning from home though, she would not want it changed. He can make her something else another time. 

"It'll be fine, Percy, thank you." 

He finally cuts away the ruined part, the burned deer antler falling to the work bench. "You should rest." 

She scoffs. "So should you. We all should." 

Looking up, he eyes her behind his glasses. "We need your spell to get back to Fort Daxio. I won't be down here long. I have the parts to fix Bad News." 

Keyleth narrows her eyes at him. "You just don't want to answer my questions about Vex." 

He laughs at her, shoulders shaking in a real honest laugh. "You know what, if we make it past tomorrow, past this whole mess, I'll tell you all about it." 

It seems so stupid to let that be a reason to stay alive, but she does very much want to tease Percy about his feelings for Vex. "Fine," she says and stands, wincing at the soreness in her limbs. She could use a hot bath. 

When she reaches the door, she turns back at the edge. She calls his name and waits till he looks up. "Thank you, Percy. I love you." 

He doesn't smile, just holds her gaze very seriously. "I love you too, Keyleth." 

She leaves him there, hopeful that she's made him feel a bit better like he has her. 

 

In the morning, Percy places her circlet on her head, mismatched colored metal and two new polished deer antlers. Keyleth beams and no matter what happens next at least she will have this.


End file.
